This is the time all co-operatives that have their financial year as 1st January to 31st December are holding their annual general meetings. Members' expectations of course is tied to interest on deposit and dividends. People are making calls to know what percentages they are getting for the previous financial year.

1. Annual General
Meetings are Here!!
By Stephen Mwangi
Co-operator

2. This is the time all co-operatives that have their
financial year as 1st January to 31st December are
holding their annual general meetings. Members'
expectations of course is tied to interest on deposit
and dividends. People are making calls to know what
percentages they are getting for the previous
financial year. Some are making calls to know who is
retiring in the management committee and who are
contesting. Most probably nobody is sending their
agendas to be considered for discussed at the AGM.

3. Most co-operatives only meet once in a year
whether through the delegates system or whole
membership attending the AGMs. Sometimes the
agendas are so congested such that all of them are
not discussed and some important agendas are
postponed till the next AGM!!! That is 12 months or
more of delay!!! So how do we get out the most
from these meetings as societies or as members??

4. The societies.....
1. Membership/delegates should be informed
earlier as stipulated in the societies' by-laws.
All of the agenda clearly stated. AOB (Any
Other Business) shouldn't be encouraged
always as this ends up consuming more time.
Members should be encouraged to present
their agendas to the secretary early enough to
be considered for discussion in the AGM.

5. 2. Keep time. I have attended many AGMs and keeping
time is a big problem. Members and even the board of
directors/management committees most times never
arrive on time. On average meetings usually start 2
hours later after the stipulated time even 4 hours later is
not uncommon!!. This discourages some members who
usually arrive early and they are also converted to late
comers of AGMs. Also late meetings will lead to all the
agendas being not discussed sufficiently and resolutions
too will not be of quality or well thought out as the early
birds will be tired.

6. 3. Keep to the agendas. I have been to meetings
where the chairman loses the control of the
agenda and the membership end up discussing
other things. This will to lead meeting being
prolonged and members exhausted and
therefore failure to finish all the agendas or have
effective meeting.

7. 4. Let the presentations be brief and to the point.
Some people when given time, will bore members
to death and it happens that these people are
poor in reading body language. Difficult to them
to know if members are bored. These people are
sometimes not time conscious and most times
they are the ones that arrive late for meetings!! It
is important that societies' appoint a time-keeper
who will notify speakers if they have finished their
allocated time.

8. 5. Do not give drinks when the meeting is
ongoing. It is better to have a short break
rather than you have a presenter on the floor
and someone is distributing drinks or food.
Membership ends up not listening or their
concentration is interfered with because of the
movements and noise. Better, provide water
before the meeting starts.

9. 6. Use public address system if member
numbers exceed 100! Some people are
inaudible and they end up talking on the
podium with the first and second rows
and the rest of membership wonder
what the person in front of them is
saying!!

10. 7. Switch the phones off or have them in
silent mode. I have witnessed several
members of the societies an even board
members, receiving calls when the
meeting is ongoing. That is RUDE!! If the
call is important, walk out with minimal
noise.

11. 8. It is good to take questions first and
then answer them instead of taking one
question and answering that one question
before going to the next question. This
saves time.

12. 9. The societies' minutes should capture all
the relevant issues being said and
proposers and seconders of those issues.
It will be easier to pick up from where the
societies left from the previous meetings.

13. The membership/delegates........
1. Come with a pen and a paper and note all
the points you thing are important or
questions you will need clarification on.
2.Be patient and let there be order in asking
questions. If your question has been
asked, do not ask the same thing again.

14. 3. Learn to arrive early as stipulated in the
notice convening the meeting. It is good
to be time keepers by reminding the
management/board/members/delegates
if they are taking too long to start or
spending too much time on a topic or a
point.

15. 4. Be constructive. Remember the supreme
authority is the AGM. Whatever is
discussed or passed in these meetings as
resolutions are what will determine the
future of the co-operative society and also
the ramifications are far much greater and
do not stop at you. So be helpful.

16. 5. Restrict your movements. Some are
particularly annoying and cannot be in a
meeting for more than ten minutes
continuously. They usually keep dragging
everybody else on same issues that have
been asked or discussed time and again.

17. Probably there are more points
that I have missed, but hope that
the message has been driven home
here....cheers!!